In translating the speech made by the Egyptian president, Iran's state television simply altered some words, replacing "Syria" with "Bahrain" when Mohamed Morsi was referring to the country in connection with the events sweeping across the Arab world.

Speaking in Iran, which is a strong ally of the Bashar al-Assad's regime, Morsi was warning that the "oppressive" Syrian regime had lost all its legitimacy, urging the world to support Syria's rebels.

"Hamad Al Amer, the foreign affairs undersecretary for regional and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) affairs, has summoned the Iranian charge d'affaires and handed him a formal protest note following the tampering by the Iranian media and replacing Syria with Bahrain in the speech delivered by president Mohammad Mursi at the opening of the Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Tehran," said a statement by the Bahraini foreign ministry, according to the website of the UAE-based newspaper Gulf News.

"Such an abuse and distortion of the facts is rejected and is regarded as interference in Bahrain's domestic affairs and a violation of the norms," it added.

Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency quoted an official as admitting the mistranslation took place but referring to it as only a "mistake". "In a verbal mistake, this translator said 'Bahrain' instead of 'Syria' and this became a pretext for western media," said the head of Iran's state television, Ezatollah Zarghami, according to Mehr.

"Iran has to apologise to Bahrain if what happened was a mistake. However, if it is not, then its credibility is still as we know it," Bahrain's foreign minister, Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa, wrote on his official Twitter account, according to the Gulf News.

Many observers, however, see the mistranslation as intentional, especially because of similar examples, such as translating "Arab spring" to "Islamic awakening", a phrase Iranian leaders use for the former concept.

Despite voicing support for pro-democracy movements in Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Iran has remained a staunch supporter of the Syrian regime and silent over its human rights violations.

On the other hand, the Bahrain's Khalifa dynasty - a Sunni minority ruling over the country's Shia majority - has proved ruthless in the cases they have pursued against those accused of involvement in 15 months of protests against it, with prosecutions against doctors, nurses and rights activists.